[Halcyon1]

Here are my top 5 tips for anyone crossing the Atlantic this year:

Top 5 Tips for crossing the Atlantic - International Yacht Delivery | Halcyon Yachts

Does anyone else have any pearls of wisdom to add for any first timers out there?

Pete

 

[rockDAWG]

Excellent top 5 tips. Thanks for sharing. Totally agree.

1. Keep sail plan simple is a must especially at nite, even it means it will go slower. When wind picks at night, darkness and stiff wind will make everything 10 times harder. It sucks when you need to wake up everyone to help you on deck. Plan for long haul and well rested body and mind. No need to break the world records.

2. I found spending a day to prepare the fancy gourmet meals before departure is easier. I vacuum pack the food and keep it frozen. Even without refrigeration, the food will last 5 to 10 days. Often I precook the pasta for shortening meal preparation. For example, linguine with white clam sauce will take less than 15 min with actual galley is less than 5 mins. Less chance to get sick.

I am looking forward to sailing from Tenerife to St. Martin in early Jan 2015. It will my first for this leg.

 

[capta]

Excellent top 5 tips. Thanks for sharing. Totally agree.
For example, linguine with white clam sauce will take less than 15 min with actual galley is less than 5 mins. Less chance to get sick.

If you have a proclivity for getting seasick, you'd better NOT embark on an ocean voyage that could last 20 days or more! THAT'S JUST MADNESS.
The 'get out of trouble free card' may work fairly well between the states and the Caribbean or Hawaii, but the long haul west bound transAt is not in an area frequented by merchant vessels, nor within easy range of the USCG.

 

[rockDAWG]

If you have a proclivity for getting seasick, you'd better NOT embark on an ocean voyage that could last 20 days or more! THAT'S JUST MADNESS.
The 'get out of trouble free card' may work fairly well between the states and the Caribbean or Hawaii, but the long haul west bound transAt is not in an area frequented by merchant vessels, nor within easy range of the USCG.

Well, if you haven't got seasick, you have not tried hard enough. Everyone will get seasick in the right conditions. No reason to tempt fates. Seasickness does not discriminate.

Stop trolling.

 

[TQA]

If you are part of an organized rally or group do not get sucked into leaving with a bad forecast.

The rally organizer may be under commercial pressures to stick to dates, YOU ARE NOT.

Look hard at the weather charts and make your own decision. There are instances of groups leaving when any rational sailor with an ounce of weather sense would have stayed in port.

 

[capta]

Well, if you haven't got seasick, you have not tried hard enough. Everyone will get seasick in the right conditions. No reason to tempt fates. Seasickness does not discriminate.

Stop trolling.

That is the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard! Again, you know not of what you post! I know hundreds of mariners (and I'm NOT talking about fair weather sailors here) with more sea time individually than you could get in three lifetimes the way you are going, who have never been sea sick.
It isn't a matter of when or if; it just doesn't work that way.
Seasickness could be fatal on a voyage of 10 to 20 days, so in your own words, 'No reason to tempt fates.' I couldn't imagine doing any ocean voyage where I was afraid to go below because I might get seasick. If you have that problem, you'd better stick to day sailing and leave the offshore work to those who are comfortable below or on deck.

 

[rockDAWG]

If you are part of an organized rally or group do not get sucked into leaving with a bad forecast.

The rally organizer may be under commercial pressures to stick to dates, YOU ARE NOT.

Look hard at the weather charts and make your own decision. There are instances of groups leaving when any rational sailor with an ounce of weather sense would have stayed in port.

Not sure if this was addressed to me or not. No, we don't belong to any Rally, we are like a free range chicken. Oh yeah, I don't buy the Rally's claim - safety in numbers.

But I do agree your assessment.

 

[denverd0n]

If you have a proclivity for getting seasick, you'd better NOT embark on an ocean voyage that could last 20 days or more! THAT'S JUST MADNESS.

No, it's not madness. You just have to know yourself. I have a very strong proclivity for getting seasick. I can pretty much count on it every voyage. I get sick. I get over it. I go on. For me, it's not a big deal.

I realize that it is a very big deal for some people. There are those who are rendered completely incapable of any activity for days on end by it. Those folks should probably think twice about an ocean voyage. But most don't get it that bad. Most are over the symptoms within a couple of days.

A proclivity for getting seasick is definitely NOT a reason to avoid an ocean voyage, assuming that you are willing to deal with and manage the symptoms.

 

[rockDAWG]

That is the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard! Again, you know not of what you post! I know hundreds of mariners (and I'm NOT talking about fair weather sailors here) with more sea time individually than you could get in three lifetimes the way you are going, who have never been sea sick.
It isn't a matter of when or if; it just doesn't work that way.
Seasickness could be fatal on a voyage of 10 to 20 days, so in your own words, 'No reason to tempt fates.' I couldn't imagine doing any ocean voyage where I was afraid to go below because I might get seasick. If you have that problem, you'd better stick to day sailing and leave the offshore work to those who are comfortable below or on deck.

You upset with me, because you could not find any female companion to sail with you. You don't take my advise how to find one. This may tell you something. Loneliness sucks.

If you have some formal education and perhaps some courses in human physiology, you will understand the etiology of motion sickness.

My last response to you. I don't want this good relevant topic goes to hell like most of them.

 

[clip68]

Nothing says "I don't have anything to add" like name calling and dirt slinging. Thanks for keeping it classy around here guys.

 

[capta]

No, it's not madness. You just have to know yourself. I have a very strong proclivity for getting seasick. I can pretty much count on it every voyage. I get sick. I get over it. I go on. For me, it's not a big deal.

I realize that it is a very big deal for some people. There are those who are rendered completely incapable of any activity for days on end by it. Those folks should probably think twice about an ocean voyage. But most don't get it that bad. Most are over the symptoms within a couple of days.

A proclivity for getting seasick is definitely NOT a reason to avoid an ocean voyage, assuming that you are willing to deal with and manage the symptoms.

You are absolutely correct, I misspoke. I should have said incapacitating seasickness, where you are afraid that going below will cause you to get sick. I have indeed sailed with many who get over it in a few days and it does not interfere with their sailing duties or matter if they are on deck or below once it has passed. To go to sea and be afraid that going below will cause one to get seasick is not prudent or reasonable.
However to say that someone hasn't gotten seasick because 'you have not tried hard enough", well, I'm quite sure you do not try to get seasick, and that if it was incapacitating for you, you would not go out there to be that miserable and unable to pull your own weight.

 

[rockDAWG]

No, it's not madness. You just have to know yourself. I have a very strong proclivity for getting seasick. I can pretty much count on it every voyage. I get sick. I get over it. I go on. For me, it's not a big deal.

I realize that it is a very big deal for some people. There are those who are rendered completely incapable of any activity for days on end by it. Those folks should probably think twice about an ocean voyage. But most don't get it that bad. Most are over the symptoms within a couple of days.

A proclivity for getting seasick is definitely NOT a reason to avoid an ocean voyage, assuming that you are willing to deal with and manage the symptoms.

One will not get motion sickness in the whole trip (7 to whatever). When the body finds its own equilibrium,the seasickness will go away. It usually take 3 to 6 days. Yes, there are plenty of meds will help to overcome this problem. No one need to stay on land, if he or she decides to sail the ocean.

The patch or some combination OTC will work wonder. The most potent and last resort is Phenergan (promethazine HCl), 2 mg IM. Get it from your doctor and learn how to use it. If sea sicknesses does not being taking care in a timely, it can be fatal. I always carry that with me.

 

[Stumble]

That is the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard! Again, you know not of what you post! I know hundreds of mariners (and I'm NOT talking about fair weather sailors here) with more sea time individually than you could get in three lifetimes the way you are going, who have never been sea sick.
It isn't a matter of when or if; it just doesn't work that way.
Seasickness could be fatal on a voyage of 10 to 20 days, so in your own words, 'No reason to tempt fates.' I couldn't imagine doing any ocean voyage where I was afraid to go below because I might get seasick. If you have that problem, you'd better stick to day sailing and leave the offshore work to those who are comfortable below or on deck.

Ya, and Ellen MacArthur with more big boat ocean crossings than almost anyone is notoriously sea sick the first few days out. Should she have passed up her sailing carear because she pukes over the side?

The reality is in the right conditions everyone will get sea sick, sure commercial guys may not see those conditions on cargo ships, but put the same ones on a small boat (<100') in big seas and they will puke too.

 

[cwyckham]

Here are my top 5 tips for anyone crossing the Atlantic this year:

Top 5 Tips for crossing the Atlantic - International Yacht Delivery | Halcyon Yachts

Does anyone else have any pearls of wisdom to add for any first timers out there?

Pete

Very nicely put together article. Your graphic for the sail plan was fantastic. The only thing I can't figure out on it is why there are three jib sheets? There seems to be an active and lazy sheet on the starboard side. Why is this?

Then only thing I can think is that you want to keep your "upwind jib lead" threaded and also run a sheet back through an aft turning block to get a better angle. Once you fix the clew position with the pole, though, the sheeting angle doesn't really matter anymore, does it?

 

[JonEisberg]

Very nicely put together article. Your graphic for the sail plan was fantastic. The only thing I can't figure out on it is why there are three jib sheets? There seems to be an active and lazy sheet on the starboard side. Why is this?

Then only thing I can think is that you want to keep your "upwind jib lead" threaded and also run a sheet back through an aft turning block to get a better angle. Once you fix the clew position with the pole, though, the sheeting angle doesn't really matter anymore, does it?

Well, I won't presume to speak for Pete, but I think it's a good idea to use a separate, somewhat 'sacrificial' sheet, to eliminate the possibility of chafing what might be a high quality/very expensive rope being used for the jib sheets...

Chafe at the pole end isn't much of an issue as long as the clew if butted right up against the jaw of the pole, but if you wind up furling the sail a bit while using a fixed length pole, then chafe can certainly become a problem on a long, rolly passage...

Your guess about the jib sheeting angle is a good one, as well... Always depends on the boat, of course, but on a boat with a jib not much larger than 100%, normally sheeting inboard of the shrouds, perhaps, the angle of the lead back inboard to the car can be a bit sharp. That will also increase the compression forces on the pole, never a good thing, particularly if using an adjustable line-control pole... Taking the lead back to a snatch or turning block back at the cockpit is just a bit easier all around, and reduces the load on the pole at least somewhat, and makes the sail a bit easier to trim if being unfurled, or the pole brought further aft...

 

[denverd0n]

One will not get motion sickness in the whole trip (7 to whatever). When the body finds its own equilibrium,the seasickness will go away.

Maybe, or maybe not. Different people react differently. For example...

Have a friend who is a graduate of Annapolis. On his first command he had a guy who was brand new to the Navy on board. In fact, this guy had joined the Navy without ever before having been on a boat, and this was his first time. He got seasick the first day, just like a whole bunch of others did. Difference is that this guy never got better. He spent two weeks at sea under the constant care of the on-board physician. Finally the physician said that they needed to get him off the boat--he simply was not going to get better.

My friend said this guy tried again a while later. Same results. For whatever reason, he simply could not go out to sea without becoming incapacitated. In the end the Navy put him in a desk job, he served one hitch, and then he mustered out.

Of course, the overwhelming majority will get over it within a few days. And most are not completely incapacitated by it even while suffering. But any generalization about seasickness is almost sure to be wrong. Different people react differently, and there is almost nothing you can say about it that will truly apply to every single person out there.

 

[christian.hess]

Im not prone to seasickness however I do feel queezy and overall just unsettled in the stomach the first day or 2 of any long passage

usually after a few shifts(I like the early am shifts and a nice sunrise with some coffee Im in voyaging mode)

and thats that!

everybody is different so no reason to presume to know how to treat all peoples...one such t thing might not work for everybody and so on...

anywhoo

 

[killarney_sailor]

Well, if you haven't got seasick, you have not tried hard enough. Everyone will get seasick in the right conditions. No reason to tempt fates. Seasickness does not discriminate.

Stop trolling.

Neither my wife or I were ever seasick while sailing around the world. Some people have the proclivity and some don't.

 

[SVAuspicious]

One will not get motion sickness in the whole trip (7 to whatever).

Nope.

The US Navy has done a lot of research on motion sickness. So has US NASA. Some people do get over it (usually in 24 to 48 hours). Some don't. I had a crew member from Falmouth to Horta (who was supposed to make it all the way across the Atlantic) that simply did not get better. Meds didn't help. He couldn't even keep ice chips down. I was really worried about dehydration.

You have to watch your crew.

I'd been sailing for 30 years before I was seasick the first time. I've been seasick twice. Interestingly it hasn't been in heavy weather.

Research indicates that there are two principle factors, one is the frequency of motion that creates the greatest effect and the other is the susceptibility to motion off the most significant frequency. Orthogonal to those factors is the degree of reaction. If the amplitude of reaction is high enough and the shape of the reactive curve as a function of frequency is broad enough a subject will be seasick and stay that way.

Fortunately there aren't a lot of those people, but there are enough that it is of concern.

Note that some reaction is physiological and some is psychological.

 

[christian.hess]

diesel fumes trigger it for many as well

it really made me feel worse...and x2 on heavy weather not being a factor for many, in fact Ive felt uneasy more in doldrums or when the horizon cant be seen or when cooking too much and not breathing fresh air

however what I suffer isnt considered seasickness really, I have been with crew that had to use those wristbands 24 hours a day aaaaaaaaand also dramamine every once in a while however that didnt stop him from cruising full time...

anywhoo